It's Almost Like You're A Nice Person
by IchigoHatake
Summary: After an awkward encounter with Kenny, in which she rejects him, Dawn finds herself literally crashing into Paul. And after some experiences which brings the two closer, Dawn's seeing that he's changing for the better and becoming a nice person. However, little does she know that a rejected Kenny is changing for the worst. As this unlikely pair works together, will love grow?


"Hey Dawn," Kenny greeted as he approached me. "Nice day, isn't it?"

I nodded in agreement. "Hoenn is a beautiful place. Kind of different from Sinnoh..."

After my journey throughout Sinnoh, I found myself in the Hoenn region. And coincidentally, Kenny had followed suit. For a while, he'd been the only person around that I knew. That is, before I crossed paths with Mr. Impassive, A.K.A. Paul Shinji. As it turns out, he came here to challenge the league and test out some of Ash's philosphies, starting out with a brand new team. The three of us encountered each other a lot throughout our journeys.

Now, I found myself standing on the dock in Dewford town. The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly. Piplup was splashing around in the clear, blue waters that shimmered under the sunlight. I had decided to rest up for a while and I couldn't resist this view. I'd been so entranced by it that I hadn't noticed that Kenny had come and stood next to me until he spoke up.

"Yeah, it's different, but a good kind of different," he finally said. Then, he turned and smiled at me. "Speaking of different, you sure changed up your wardrobe, Deedee. What's with the sudden change? You were still wearing your old outfit until a while after your visit with Ash. Did he say something about it?"

He was right. Just a while after coming back from Unova, I'd decided to change things up a bit. I no longer wore my hat or looped my hair around. I just let it drift freely, one pink barette hanging on the right side. I ditched the scarf, replacing it with a necklace featuring a Piplup's face. The rest of my outfit had been completely abandoned as well. I now wore a pink tank top decorated with small, white dots and black shorts that reached halfway to my knees. The old, hot socks and boots had been replaced by their opposite. My feet now caught a nice breeze in the flip-flops I wore.

But even though I'd changed my look shortly after returning, it wasn't because of Ash.

I puffed my cheeks out in anger. "It wasn't Ash. A certain, purple-haired idiot pointed out that it was "kind of gross" how I wasn't changing my clothes after having worn them close to a year."

Kenny blushed, looking down at the same green shirt with a white stripe through the center and tan pants he'd always worn. "Hmph. You didn't need to change your look just for that jerk. I thought you looked cute before."

I was immediately offended and glared at him. "So I _don't_ look cute now?"

His face got even more red as he frantically waved his hands at me. "No! No! No! That isn't what I meant at all. You're really cute. I've always thought you were pretty. In fact, there's something I really wanted to ask you Dawn. For a long time now..."

My anger boiled down and I stared at him curiously. "What is it?"

A stupid, nervous grin appeared on his face and he stared down at his feet. He then began to twiddle his thumbs. "Um...well...do you like me?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What kind of like?"

He looked up at me. "Do you...love me? Because I've really liked you for a while now, Dawn. And...I need to know that you feel the same way."

I blushed, but not in the embarrassed, flustered way. This was kind of awkward, because honestly, I'd never really liked Kenny that way. In fact, I had my heart set on another guy. Although he's a huge, stupid, no-good jerk.

I avoided his question and called out to Piplup, telling him it was time for us to go. He hopped up on the dock, shook off his feathers, then happily hopped into my arms. I tried to walk by Kenny, but he quickly blocked my way, looking upset.

"You're trying to a void the question. Why?" he cried out. "Unless...you don't like me?"

I sighed and met his eyes, feeling like a huge bitch. "I'm sorry, Kenny. But there's someone else. Please forgive me. I just didn't want to hurt your feelings."

Tears appeared in his eyes and he gave me such a death stare. It was like he was trying to shoot me dead. "It's Paul, isn't it? You always look soooo happy whenever you cross paths with him. You keep calling him a jerk, but you're constantly drooling over him! I've always hated him. You should hate him too. He doesn't like you at all. He's constantly shooting you down, right?! But I guess nice guys always finish last, huh?"

I ducked under one of the arms he had outstretched to block me, then took off in a sprint. Before he was out of ear-shot, I called out, "I'm sorry!"

I felt completely awful. That did _not_ go the way I'd wanted it to. I feel so heartless and cruel. But I guess it's my own fault for not answering him honestly the first time. Now I've crushed him even more. I'm a _horrible_ friend!

I didn't pay any attention to where I was going as I blindly ran through town, tears distorting my vision. I then found myself smacking into someone, landing unceremoniously on my bottom, nearly dropping Piplup in the process. The penguin Pokémon squawked in anger as I gave him an awkward smile in apology.

I wiped my eyes and looked up to see who I'd smacked into. Of course it would be him.

"Paul," I spat out without realizing.

He looked down at me, seemingly annoyed. "Can you ever not run into me? This is always how you seem to greet me nowadays."

I frowned. "Mind being a gentleman _for once_ and helping me up?"

I was actually surprised as he extended his hand to me. I took it, and he hoisted me and Piplup back up. He then sighed in irritation, clutching his badge case tightly. I snatched it from his hands and opened it up before he could protest. One badge sat snugly in the case.

I glanced over to my side and noticed we were outside the gym. I then burst out into hysterical laughter. "What's this?! Did you actually lose a gym battle?!"

He snatched the case back angrily and gritted his teeth together. "Like you have the right to criticize me, troublesome. You lost pretty bad at your last contest."

I stopped laughing and blinked in shock. "You watched one of my contests?"

He snorted and turned away. "I just wanted to see what the big deal was since I had that Ash went to all your contests. Pathetic. Didn't you get to the top 2 in the Grand Festival? So how did you manage to lose in the first battle round?"

"Shut up!" I hissed. "You lost the Sinnoh League, didn't ya?! So I guess we're even!"

We both glared at each other in silence for a while, seeing who could look meaner. I started to wonder why I'd even fallen for this guy. He was always so rude to me. I thought he had told me that he was striving to be more like Ash! My Arceus! Why could he never just greet me like a normal human being and maybe give a small little smile? That's all I ask for!

I sighed, and finally stopped glaring, not wanting my pretty face to stick like that. I took a few breaths and asked in the nicest way possible, "How did you lose?"

He just shrugged. "Brawly's pretty good. I might just need to catch a new Pokémon or something. Torterra didn't cut it. Okay?"

I slowly nodded, and then an idea popped into my head. "Hey, if you want, you could borrow my Pokémon! They might be useful!"

Paul started chuckling at me. "Ha! Use your frilly coordinator Pokémon? As if. They wouldn't know the first thing about a gym battle."

I scowled at him and held Piplup tight in my arms. "_Actually_, Paul. My Pokemon and I _have_ been in a gym battle. After you crushed Maylene's feelings, we battled her. Well...sure...we lost, but we got her back on her feet. And my Pokemon and I have been watching Ash's gym battles forever. My Pokémon happen to be fast learners!"

Paul just stood for a while, looking lost in thought. Finally, he spoke up. "I guess I wouldn't mind borrowing that Piplup of yours. Its flying type moves would be effective against fighting type Pokémon."

"Pip! Piplup! Lup! LUP!" Piplup yelled at him, obviously not wanting to team up with Paul.

I spinned Piplup around so he was facing me and looked him in the eyes, giving him my dreaded puppy face. Piplup glared at me.

"Pretty please?" I begged, wanting to help Paul in any way possible. I didn't want him to treat me like I was a nuisance anymore. I wanted us to be able to become friends.

Piplup shook his head, but after a tear trickled down my cheek, he sighed in defeat.

"Pip...lup," he reluctantly agreed.

My sad face was immediately replaced with a big smile and I hugged Piplup tight. "Yay! Thank you!" I turned to Paul and held out Piplup. He took him, holding him awkwardly. Piplup looked miserable already. "Well, there's my Piplup. You better be nice to him or else!"

I must have put some malice into my voice because Paul looked genuinely afraid. Piplup snickered at him and mocked him in his own Pokémon language. I shot a look at Piplup and he jumped in surprise.

"You better behave yourself too, Piplup. Otherwise you won't get any poffins for a week."

Piplup looked like he'd fallen into the depths of despair, tears in his eyes. Piplup clapped his wings together and started crying, as if he were begging for me not to do something so cruel to him. Looks like we were all on the same page now.

I smiled at Paul. "So. Where are we going to train for the gym battle?"

He gave me a questioning look. "What do you mean by _we_?"

I pouted, realizing he was trying to ditch me. "Well Piplup is _my_ Pokémon! I need to make sure you're nice to him, considering how cruelly you used to treat your Pokémon."

He glared at me with all the hatred he could. He actually looked hurt. "So you don't trust me? You don't think I've changed at all?"

I frowned. "N-No! That isn't what I meant. I mean...the past is in the past, right? So I guess there's no need to worry! Though, you shouldn't just change your training habits. How about you work on that attitude of yours too?"

He snorted and gave me a look of disgust. "What are you? My _mother_?"

"Might as well be," I responded. "'Cuz I can unbirth you just the same."

He rolled his eyes at me, and started walking away. "Hurry up, troublesome. If you're going to spy on my training session, at least try not to be a complete burden and hurry it up."

"Where are we going?" I questioned as I ran after him.

"The dock," he responded. My heart sank.

"Uh...why the dock?"

He stopped and turned to me, staring at me like I was an idiot. "Piplup is a water type Pokémon, right? Wouldn't it be easier for the runt to train in some water?"

"Don't call Piplup a runt!" I hissed at him. "And...I don't really think we should go to the dock."

"Why not?" he snapped.

I stared down at my feet and remembered the outburst Kenny had. I'd really hurt his feelings, and he cried easily when he got upset. So he might still be there, just sobbing. I couldn't stand to see that. It'd break my heart. And if he saw Paul with me...he'd freak.

"Because I think Kenny's still there," I responded earnestly. "And I kind of want to steer clear of him right now..."

Paul looked rather amused by this. A smirk appeared on his face and I wondered what he could possibly be thinking right now. He also let out a short laugh.

"Alright then," he said after he'd calmed down, his old, emotionless expression returning. "We'll train near those old warehouses then. Most of them are empty, so we won't be disrupting anybody."

I nodded in agreeance. "Um...thanks for understanding, Paul."

"You can tell me what's wrong...if you want," Paul said, turning away as not to face me, but I almost thought I saw a look of concern on his face. Maybe...Paul actually cared about me a little bit after all.

I grinned. "Let's make a deal. You win the gym battle, and I'll tell you what happened with me and Kenny. If you lose, I get permission to travel along with you."

He turned back to me again, determination glowing in his eyes. "Well, I can assure you, I won't be losing this gym battle."

"Good. Then Piplup won't have to be disgraced by your awful training skills," I joked.

"Brat," he muttered under his breath.

"Jerk," I retorted.

Yup. I'm sure we could become good friends.

* * *

**Well...I wasn't originally even going to finish this chapter, let alone post it, but my "onee-chan", Megumis, convinced me to. So this is dedicated to her. I hope you all like the story and I would appreciate any reviews. Thank you. Until next time!**

**-IchigoHatake**


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